NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2015 Oct 3, 01:59 -0400
Hello David
I have observed both horizons via a prismatic device that the Soviets developed and as well with my circle of reflection. In both devices, you observe the horizons which are 180° apart in azimuth.
In practice, horizon A is aligned with horizon B. What is observed is the dip of the horizon for both, when summed. Consequently, the observer is unaware of the contribution of each towards the sum. The sum is divided by two, to obtain the dip by measurement instead of by tabular lookup.
To preset your device, you might wish to set the expected dip via table using the height of eye as the independent variablr, but in practice, I just start at 180° and increase the setting while observing until the horizons are coincident.
So in answer to your Q3, I would state: zero, the difference observed between horizons should be zero when the observation is correct.
Brad
Can I add Q3 to my last post on this topic?
Q3. What would be the most significant difference between the two horizons viewed through the sextant eyepiece?
DaveP
